Sales of resale homes in California jumped 56.7 percent year-over-year in August while the median price slipped 40.5 percent, the California Association of Realtors reported today. Nationally, resale home sales and prices dropped about 10 percent year-over-year in August, the National Association of Realtors reported.
"Although the month-to-month decline in the median price was the smallest in a year, it’s still premature to say that the median price has begun to stabilize," said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California association, in a statement.
"While sales appear to have turned the corner, the median will experience additional downward pressure as we move into the off-peak season in the coming months, and will continue to face pressure from distressed sales. Sales are just one of the variables that must fall into place before we see real improvement in the market," she said.
The California trade group’s Unsold Inventory Index for single-family detached homes in August was 6.7 months, compared with 10.6 months in August 2007. The index indicates the amount of time it would take to deplete the supply of homes for sale given that month’s sales rate. The median number of days it took to sell a single-family resale home in the state was 47.3 days in August 2008, compared with 54.7 days for the same month last year.
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